GlobalFoundries cuts jobs in New York

GlobalFoundries Inc. is cutting 30 jobs in New York state, including some employees at its computer-chip factory in the Capital Region.

It is believed to be the first group layoff for GlobalFoundries. It is also the equivalent of 1.4 percent of the company's 2,200 jobs in New York.

The vast majority of those are located at the company's plant and research operations in the Luther Forest Technology Campus, in Saratoga County.

GlobalFoundries has been nothing short of an economic development coup for the Capital Region. The Arab-owned company is investing nearly $9 billion here, construction that single-handedly kept thousands of people employed (and countless companies in business) during the Great Recession.

New York state committed a record incentives package to recruit the company. The deal is worth as much as $2.4 billion today, mostly in tax credits tied to investment and job creation.

GlobalFoundries was created five years ago, when Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) spun off its manufacturing.

Aside from New York, GlobalFoundries has seven other factories, in Singapore and Germany.

Worldwide, the company is cutting less than 3 percent of its 13,000 workers, according to spokesman Travis Bullard. That equates to fewer than 400 jobs.

The 30 job cuts in New York are spread between the Capital Region factory and two other locations: the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, an independent research and development center in Albany, as well as a joint research facility with IBM at that company's campus in East Fishkill, in the Hudson Valley.

"The impact here ... is very limited," Bullard said. "These cost reduction measures are designed to accelerate our ability to build a profitable, competitive and successful global business."

Bullard described the jobs being cut in New York as "non-technical, non-operations, non-manufacturing roles."

In other words: support or back-office positions such as human resources, marketing, legal, finance and other administrative roles.

GlobalFoundries remains on course to add a net of roughly 1,000 employees by the end of next year.

The company is in the process of expanding its "clean room," a hyper clean manufacturing space, adding more utility capacity and building its own research center where it will work directly with customers.

GlobalFoundries is the world's second-largest independent producer of chips. The only larger competitor is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., which controls half the market.